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This collection has access restrictions. For
details, please see the
restrictions.

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival
material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are
physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available
through the World Wide Web. See the
section for more information.

Samuel J. Cohen ("Jimmy") and Luba Tooter Cohen, both immigrants from Russia, were married in New York,
N.Y., in 1920. They moved to Blytheville, Ark., where Jimmy worked in construction,
evenutally
opening his own business, S. J. Cohen Company. Their son Jerome Cohen (1922-2013)
later joined the
family business. Both Jimmy and "Jerry" served in World War II. The collection includes papers, family histories, photographs, and
home movies relating to the Cohen, Tooter (also spelled Tudor), Dimand, and Freedman
families,
chiefly of Blytheville, Ark.; New London, Conn.; New York, N.Y.; and Minsk and Odessa,
Russia.
Papers document military service with the Seabees, a Naval construction regiment,
during World
War II; the S. J. Cohen Company; elementary education in Russia; civil engineering
education in
the United States; immigration; and ethnic cooking. Materials include personal and
business
correspondence, immigration and citizenship papers, military papers, school materials,
recipes,
newspaper clippings, postcards, and financial materials. Some of the school materials
are in
Russian (translations included). Family history materials include oral history interviews
and
transcripts, recorded by Marcie Cohen Ferris, that document emigration of Russian
Jews and their
adjustment to life in the United States in the 1910s. Family photographs document
children and
adults at play and family gatherings from the early 1900s to the 1960s, Russian military
dress
in the 1910s, a United States military base in the Pacific during World War II, and
construction
sites related to work done by the S. J. Cohen Company. Other photographs document
African
American sharecroppers, cotton farming, and a hunting camp. Home movies, filmed by
Jerry Cohen,
record the history of significant construction and engineering projects of S. J. Cohen
Company.
The films also record daily life in the Cohen family, including Temple Israel and
the Jewish
community of Blytheville, as well as family vacations and visits to Huddy Howoritz
Cohen's home
and family in New London. Slides are chiefly of family vacations and S. J. Cohen Company
engineering projects.

Use of audiocassettes, audiodiscs, and videotapes may require production of
listening and viewing copies.

This collection contains additional materials that are not processed and are currently
not available to researchers. For information about access to these materials, contact
Research and Instructional Services staff. Please be advised that preparing unprocessed
materials for access can be a lengthy process.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants,
as
stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Cohen Family Papers #5178, Southern Historical Collection,
Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Marcie Cohen Ferris of Chapel Hill, N.C., in September 2004 (Acc. 99898),
July
2005 (Acc. 100140), September 2006 (Acc. 100509), and October 2007 (Acc. 100789).

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or
confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy
laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. §
132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of
State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.).
Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to
identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent
of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under
common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's
private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable
person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no
responsibility.

The following terms from
Library of Congress Subject
Headings
suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the
entire collection; the terms do
not usually represent
discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or
items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's
online catalog.

Samuel J. Cohen ("Jimmy") was born 6 March 1897 in Minsk,
Russia. His family, including his mother Mary Winick Cohen and brother Jack Cohen,
immigrated to
the United States in 1913. Jimmy attended the City College of New York and the Polytechnic
Institute of Brooklyn.

Luba Tooter was born in 1897 in Odessa, Russia, to Harry and Mollie Tooter. Luba,
her parents,
and her siblings, Milton, Maurice, Eddie, Joseph, Al, and George, immigrated to the
United
States in 1912. Luba worked in sweat shops and attended school at night to learn English.

Jimmy and Luba began courting in 1915 and were married on 19 November 1920. Luba joined
her
husband in Blytheville, Ark., where he had relocated in 1919 to pursue construction
work with
the Pride and Fairley engineering firm. In 1929, Jimmy opened his own construction
company, S.
J. Cohen Company, which specialized in drainage canals, levees, highways, bridges,
and grading
at airports.

Jimmy and Luba had one son, Jerome Cohen, who was born 22 June 1922. "Jerry" graduated in 1943 from Cornell University with a degree in
civil engineering.

Both Jimmy and Jerry enlisted in the military in 1943. Jimmy joined the Navy as an
officer in
the Seabees, the Navy Civil Engineer Corps.

Jerry married Hudda Horowitz, the daughter of Morris Horowitz and Lena Freedman Horowitz.
"Huddy" was born 7 February 1926. Jerry and Huddy had two
daughters, Jamie and Marcie.

Jimmy Cohen died on 2 April 1954. Luba Tooter Cohen died in 1985. Jerry Cohen died
on 30 July 2013.

The collection includes papers, family histories, photographs, and home
movies relating to Samuel J. Cohen, Luba Tooter Cohen,
Jerry Cohen, and the Cohen, Tooter
(also spelled Tudor), Dimand, and Freedman families,
chiefly of Blytheville, Ark.; New London, Conn.;
New York, N.Y.; Minsk, Russia; and Odessa,
Russia. Papers document military service with the
Seabees, a Naval construction regiment, during World War
II; the S. J. Cohen Company, a construction
business in Arkansas; elementary education in Russia;
civil engineering education in the United States;
immigration; and ethnic cooking. Materials include
personal and business correspondence, immigration and citizenship papers,
military papers, school materials, recipes, newspaper clippings,
postcards, and financial materials. Some of the school materials are in
Russian and include translations. Family history materials include
oral history interviews and transcripts, recorded by Marcie
Cohen Ferris, that document emigration of Russian
Jews and their adjustment to life in the United States in the 1910s. Family
photographs document children and adults at play and family gatherings
from the early 1900s to the 1960s, Russian military dress in the 1910s, a
United States military base in the Pacific during World War II, and
construction sites related to work done by the S. J. Cohen Company. Other photographs
document
African American sharecroppers, cotton farming, and a
hunting camp. Home movies, filmed by Jerry Cohen, record history of
significant construction and engineering projects of S. J. Cohen Company. The films
also record
daily life in the Cohen family, including Temple Israel and the Jewish
community of Blytheville, as well as family vacations and visits to Huddy Howoritz
Cohen's home
and family in New London. Slides are chiefly of family vacations and S. J.
Cohen Company engineering projects.

Papers and other materials documenting military service with the Seabees, a Naval
construction regiment, during World War II; S. J. Cohen Company, a construction business
in
Arkansas; elementary education in Russia; civil engineering education in the United
States;
immigration; and ethnic cooking. Included are personal and business correspondence;
immigration and citizenship papers; military papers; school materials; recipes; newspaper
clippings; postcards; and financial materials such as loan documents, receipts, and
bank
statements. Materials chiefly relate to Samuel J. Cohen, Luba Tooter Cohen, and Jerry
Cohen,
but also concern other Cohen and Freedman family members. Some of the school materials
are in
Russian and include translations. Home movies, filmed by Jerry Cohen, record history
of
significant construction and engineering projects of S. J. Cohen Company. The films
also
record daily life in the Cohen family, including Temple Israel and the Jewish community
of
Blytheville, Ark., as well as family vacations and visits to Huddy Howoritz Cohen's
home and
family in New London, Conn.

This collection contains additional materials that are not processed and are currently
not available to researchers. For information about access to these materials, contact
Research and Instructional Services staff. Please be advised that preparing unprocessed
materials for access can be a lengthy process.

Folder 44

Folder 45

Oral histories, transcripts, and an article relating to the Cohen and Tooter (also
spelled
Tudor) families. Topics discussed include emigration of Russian Jews, adjusting to
life in the
United States in the 1910s, and other aspects of family histories. Marcie Cohen Ferris
conducted all of the interviews.

Photographs relating to the Cohen, Tooter (also spelled Tudor), Dimand, and Freedman
families of Blytheville, Ark.; New London, Conn.; New York, N.Y.; and Minsk and Odessa,
Russia. Formal and informal portraits document children and adults from the early
1900s to the
1960s, Russian military dress in the 1910s, and United States military uniforms of
World War
II. Other photographs document children at play; family gatherings; a World War II
military
base in the Pacific; travel to Europe and Israel; construction sites related to work
done by
the S. J. Cohen Company; and homes built by Pride and Fairley, an engineering firm
that Samuel
J. Cohen worked for when he first moved to Blytheville, Ark., in 1919. Miscellaneous
photos
document African American sharecroppers, cotton farming, and a hunting camp.

Slides, 1966-1990 and undated, are in slide carousels (about 80 images per carousel)
and are
chiefly of family vacations and S. J. Cohen Company engineering projects. Note that
original
titles marked on the carousels have, for the most part, been retained.